Hosted computing services—also known as cloud computing services—are services made available to the public over the internet by third parties, where applications are executed from servers and the results of such execution are presented to users, typically through web browsers. Hosted computer services provide to a wide range of users a variety of solutions, such as mapping, internet search, productivity applications (word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and e-mail), personal finance packages, enterprise resource management, and many other services. Such applications can be made richer by using techniques such as asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX).
Desktop operating systems and associated computer applications provide for local storage and execution of applications, including productivity applications. Modern operating systems generally permit for “cut-and-paste” operations so that data may be moved from a first location to a second location, including between two different applications. In certain instances, the formatting of the data can also be preserved via translation from a first application to a second application on the computing device. In addition, active links may be maintained between instances of data in computer applications using features such as Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) or Object Linking and Embedding (OLE). The sharing of data between applications is frequently implemented using a clipboard paradigm, whereby data is cut from a first application onto a clipboard, from which it may later be accessed for pasting into other applications.